Following Duran, Gaven says, "Please take us to Captain Belloc straightaway. We have sacked the bandit group to the south and have news that he must hear."

To underscore Gaven's point, Stan holds out the sack containing Mackey's head. The blood-soaked cloth betrays enough of the human facial features pressing against it for the guard to quickly recognize what the bag must hold.

"Uh, of course!" he says, taking an involuntary step back from the head in the sack. "By all means. I'm sure you've been to the Captain's office before and can find your own way."

The guard has mixed look of fear and admiration on his face, as you walk past him into the town.

Oloc has stood by silently as his companions asked to be taken to Belloc. The Mage is tired and wants nothing more than a day's rest. He wonders if not having the bandit leader's body will be problematic in claiming the reward. With the other evidence on hand, it shouldn't be too much of an issue, he thinks.

"Yes, let's speak with Belloc and then get some rest."

*****

You arrive at Captain Belloc's office in short order, and are bidden to enter without delay. Seeing your fatigued condition, he quickly sends his orderly to have benches brought in so that you can all sit down.

"I received your message," he begins. "That was very good work. I know you're tired, but if you could, I'd like your complete report."

The orderly scribbles away as you relate what you think are all the relevant details of your foray into Blackleaf against the Red Serpent bandits, including all the details about Alanna, her written communications with Mackey, and the grey men. The captain occasionally asks brief questions to clarify a point here and there.

When you have finished relating your tale, Belloc gives you an update of his own.

"The good news is that I've alerted several subordinates – of whose loyalty I am sure – to apprehend Alanna. The bad news is that she seems to have anticipated this move, and is currently nowhere to be found."

Seeing Varros' anxious tendency to look expectantly toward the window. Belloc adds: "Once Karnak came to me with your message, I gave him a brief rest and then sent him out with a few other ravens to alert my subordinates. He should be back some time today."

"At any rate," he adds, looking at the grisly sack in Stan's hand. "It seems you have something to show me."

With a nod from you all, Stan opens the sack, and Belloc looks inside. He nods and takes a hefty pouch of his own off the table, and exchanges it for the one with Mackey's head.

"I'm sure the mayor will be pleased to see this head. And I'm just as sure you'll be pleased to see this. You've certainly earned it."

Looking into the large pouch he hands you, you see the 500 gold pieces promised by the reward poster.

"As an added bonus, I'd like to offer you something else. I've noticed Karnak has become quite attached to you. I was thinking you might enjoy his services on a more permanent basis – he does make a rather good scout. I've spoken with him, and if you'd like to have him along permanently, I'll send him to meet you at the Red Tankard when he returns. What say you?"

*************************

OOC: Actions?

Let me know if you have any questions for Belloc or any specific things you'd like to say to him.

Also let me know how you want to proceed. I suspect you'll want to divide treasure, rest/heal, possibly re-equip, make major purchases/donations (I'd be surprised if you weren't at least close to leveling up), talk to certain people, and so forth.

BTW: question. I've been thinking about the "XP for g.p. spent rule" and I'm wondering if it's not just more fiddly than it's worth. What do you guys think? In retrospect, I'm not sure that it really serves much purpose. When I originally put it in as a house rule, it was at a time when I had read a couple of blog posts about excessive PC wealth. But now over a year later, as I reflect on it, I'm thinking "how is it actually a problem if PCs have more gold than they can ever spend?" We'll go with a majority vote on this. If there is no majority (i.e., if nobody cares, or if the vote is split) we'll just keep that rule as is. If a majority say so, I'll drop it (with a retroactive recuperation of any "major expenses" you've noted on your character sheet, if desired).

18 comments:

OOC: re: xp for gold spent. Can you clarify what you want to get rid of? That we have to spend to get the xp? That we can spend on certain things, like donations to the church or on training to gain benefits? Both?

I'm ok with getting rid of spending gp to gain xp. But I like the idea of spending to gain benefits (especially because as a cleric , Gaven would be donating anyway).

OOC: I don't particularly want to get rid of the rule (or any part of it). It was more of a random thought -- "gee, this seems a bit fiddly" -- which I had while re-reading the house rule. It just seemed like a random thought worth getting everyone's take on.

But no, I don't have any special desire to get rid of it. As you point out, keeping the benefits is something to bear in mind.

ooc: I don't have a problem with the rule as it is, but I can go either way. Oloc will just be funneling his gold to Cosmo whenever he has enough to purchase anything of interest.

Regarding actions, Oloc will thank the Captain for his generosity. He will then suggest that the party gets a table at the Northstar to divide up the treasure and discuss next course of action. Blackwell Keep, anyone? :)

He will then see about getting a room. He will want to take a bath, eat, and the hit the sack.

Did you guys want me to work in going to Cosmo for ID on the remaining unidentified items into the next post?

Also, if you want to make a "major expenditure" to cash in on xp for gold spent, let me know.

Remember you are not required to share treasure with the hirelings, but of course a gift cannot hurt their morale and loyalty (and it will in no way reduce the xp you receive, as this too will count as xp spent).

OOC: Cosmo charges a consultation fee of 10 g.p. per item (just for looking at it), and 50 g.p. if the item turns out to be magical.

He can determine fairly easily if an item is even magical or not (hence the 10 g.p. consultation fee). Figuring out exactly what the item is or does after that is tougher for him (bumping the fee up to 50 g.p.).

The 50 g.p. for an item is total, not in addition to the 10 g.p. (so you'll pay a max of 50 g.p. per item, never 60).

ooc:Spending some money:391 donated to church (to get up to 50% spent on donation)10 spent to buy new cloak to replace ripped up cloak10 spent for consultation fee on vial10 gp each to the 4 mercs5 gp each to the 2 porters

Gaven is now at 1504.25/1500 exp for level 2 and 751/751 in donations to church.

OOC: Just for clarification (I'll be posting this on the house rules page as well):

Magic Item Identification

Potions can be sampled with a sip. If the potion is magical, its nature will be known, and enough of the potion will remain for a full dose. If the potion is poison, the poison is just as deadly from a sip as from drinking the full dose.

Any item whose use it obvious (armor, weapon, wand, ring) need only be picked up and worn/handled normally (i.e., grabbing a weapon by its handle, putting a ring on a finger etc.). If this is done and the item is magical, it is immediately identified. If it is cursed, the person is immediately cursed.

Some magic items (like Mackey's device, which you can't just put on a finger like a ring or sip like a potion) may be complex enough that they can only be identified by going to someone like Cosmo.

This is already up on the house rules page (under "rulings"), but I thought it worth a reminder.

When magic-users get their basic training, they learn to read a variety of common magical languages. So most "normal" scrolls don't require "read magic" to use. However, many ancient or obscure magical writings, as well as certain carvings, warnings, wards, glyphs, runes, etc. that adventurers discover while adventuring may very well require it.

So what that means is, for the vast majority of scrolls encountered, Oloc can simply try to read it, and he will most likely be able to identify the spell it contains, if any. With some particularly rare scrolls, this may not work.